New PDF release: Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point

Born in slavery, Charles younger (1864–1922) was once the 3rd black graduate of West element, the 1st black U.S. army attaché, and the highest-ranking black officer within the normal military till his dying. in contrast to the 2 black graduates ahead of him, younger went directly to an extended army profession, finally reaching the rank of colonel. After younger, racial intolerance closed the door to blacks on the academy, and forty-seven years handed prior to one other African American graduated from West aspect.

Brian G. Shellum’s biography of Young’s years at West element chronicles the big demanding situations that younger confronted and offers a useful window into existence at West element within the Eighties. educational problems, hazing, and social ostracism dogged him all through his academy years. He succeeded via a mix of concentrated mind, exertions, and a feeling of humor. by way of commencement, he had made white associates, and his motivation and backbone had received him the grudging appreciate of a lot of his classmates and professors.

Until now, students of African American and army historical past have missed this significant U.S. military trailblazer. Young’s studies on the U.S. army Academy, his overcome adversity, and his dedication to luck solid the mildew for his destiny achievements as a military officer, while the U.S. slipped extra into the degradation and waste of racial intolerance.

This crucial examine posits a brand new method of realizing how usual Black humans used the 30 years following the civil rights flow to forge a brand new political truth for themselves and their nation. whereas following nationwide tendencies heavily, it focuses really at the political setting of Sacramento, California, from 1970 to 2000.

In a time while so much americans by no means puzzled the basis that girls may be subordinate to males, and in a spot the place purely white males loved absolutely the rights and privileges of citizenship, many ladies discovered how you can negotiate societal obstacles and to assert a proportion of strength for themselves in a male-dominated global.

Additional info for Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point

Sample text

Some of the white scholars in the class ‘cut up High’ about him being in the class, for this is the ﬁrst time the white and colored children have been allowed to ‘mix’ at all. The colored school always had a class to themselves before. We have many good colored schools here, and Prof. Shumaker is Superintendent of them as well as the white. Charlie has a good deal of ‘pluck’ to graduate for his white classmates treat him scandalously mean, and everybody, that is every white person, is very much opposed to him.

Young was fortunate that his parents eventually settled in Ripley, Ohio. Ripley was a one-of-a-kind community, and the Youngs could have found no better place in Ohio to start a new life. The combination of parents, location, and natural aptitude provided a backdrop that maximized Charles’s talents. First, his parents nurtured him and took risks that allowed him to develop his full potential. Second, his community and mentors helped expand his talents and prepare him for an extraordinary future.

In 1845 he agreed under duress to help rescue two runaway slave girls, and in the process he was forcibly introduced to Ripley and the Underground Railroad. This adventure prompted him to move to Ripley in 1850, and there he joined forces with Rankin as an active abolitionist and operative in the Underground Railroad. 21 Parker owned and operated a foundry by day and helped smuggle slaves out of Kentucky at night. He made numerous forays into Kentucky, scouting both sides of the Ohio River, and credited himself with saving the lives of 440 slaves.